Safar

Q: I have a question regarding combining prayers while travelling. 

In 3–4 days, I will be travelling to another city for just one night. I suffer from severe waswasa (intrusive doubts), especially related to purity. Because of this, using the washroom becomes very difficult for me, as I doubt splashes and often end up washing my legs repeatedly. My wuḍūʾ also takes a long time, and prayer becomes difficult as well. Due to my anxiety, I even record the prayer and listen to it afterwards to reassure myself and it won't be possible for me to pray in a mall prayer room or a mosque as I recite out loudly and if I'm combining prayers it would be just easier as I would have to go through it just twice rather than 4 times (dhuhr, asr, Maghrib, Isha). 

All of this takes a lot of time and causes me distress. When travelling, it upsets me because we usually go out to malls, and praying outside the home becomes even more challenging for me. I wanted to ask whether it would be permissible for me to combine prayers on that day only, as travelling already shortens the prayers to two rakʿahs. Praying two prayers together with one wuḍūʾ would be much easier for me—for example, praying Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr together, and Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ together. 

Normally, I pray on time and do not combine prayers. I am confused because technically there will be proper facilities at the hotel (washroom, hot water, etc.), so I am unsure whether my situation is considered a valid reason. At the same time, it is winter, the buildings are centrally air-conditioned, and washing my legs repeatedly becomes very difficult. I also sometimes need to call a family member to help me with wuḍūʾ due to my anxiety, which may not be easy in a new place as it's just difficult seeing if they are free and a I am feeling very anxious and confused about this, and I would appreciate guidance on what would be permissible for me in this situation.

Q: 

1. A woman travels unaccompanied from her house to get to her mother's house (25km away) then travels to another area (56km away from her mother's house and about 31km from her house) for a total of 81km on the same day. She passes the locality her house is in on the way without entering it (her house is about 1km from the highway). Has she travelled safr distance? 

2. If the total distance to the third area is less than safr distance (for example 60km) and she then travels back to her mother's house and then the total is safr distance, would she be considered to have travelled safr distance? 

3. If when leaving her house to go to her mother's house she didn't know she would travel further, would it still count as safr distance? 

4. If she is staying at her mother's house for some time, is she allowed to travel distances around her mother's house if it eventually adds up to safr distance? How long would she have to be staying at her mother's house for this to be allowed, if Mufti Sahib can provide a detailed answer on how this works.